Perfectionism
Perfectionism is weaponized in anti-Black culture, especially in the workplace, and it's damaging. It looks like mistakes being blamed on personhood rather than just as standard human error and expressing little appreciation for others and their work.
Urgency
Operating as if everything is always urgent is harmful. A continued sense of urgency leaves little room for thoughtful decision-making or considering long-term plans or consequences.
Defensiveness
Sometimes critiquing those in power can be seen as inappropriate or threatening. But this is a mechanism for protecting the powerful and creates a system of oppression.
Quantity Over Quality
Anti-Blackness teaches that data or something we can quantify is more valuable than things we cannot, like building strong relationships.
Our people have always been about community, so we must remember that quality matters, too.
Written Word
Black folks have been griots sharing stories and oral history since the dawn. To us, word is bond. But anti-Blackness wants us to worship the written word. Documentation is often important, but there can be more than one right way to share information.
We survive anti-Blackness every day, so we must be able to identify it to move around it and build our liberated world. We don't have to obey these lies.